Learn how to ask about someone or something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, I'm John. |
| Chrissi: And I'm Chrissi. |
| John: And welcome to Must-Know Greek Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 12. Interrogative adverb "who". |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for asking about someone or something. |
| PATTERN |
| John: For example, |
| John: "Which employee is arguing with the client?" |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| Chrissi: [slow] Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| John: The pattern for asking about someone or something has four elements. First, the masculine interrogative pronoun in the nominative meaning "which" here. |
| Chrissi: Ποιος (Pios). |
| John: Second, the masculine noun in the nominative meaning "employee". |
| Chrissi: υπάλληλος (ipálilos). |
| John: Third, the verb "to argue/to fight/to quarrel" in the 3rd person singular meaning "is arguing". |
| Chrissi: τσακώνεται (tsakónete). |
| John: And last, the prepositional phrase meaning "with the client". |
| Chrissi: με τον πελάτη (me ton peláti). |
| John: Altogether, we have... "Which employee is arguing with the client?" |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) [slow] Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) [normal] Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| John: To ask about someone or something, you need to start your sentence with one of the Greek interrogative pronouns in the nominative case. |
| Chrissi: In the singular, those are the declinable ποιος (pios), ποια (pia), and ποιο (pio) for the masculine, feminine, and the neuter gender respectively, and they may mean "who," "which (one)," or "what" depending on whether they refer to a person, an animal, a concept, or an inanimate object, and how they are used within a sentence. |
| John: After the interrogative pronoun, comes an optional complement that can be a noun phrase in the nominative or even a prepositional phrase with the preposition "of"... |
| Chrissi: (από, apó)... |
| John: that further specifies the person or thing we are asking about. |
| Then comes the verb conjugated in the 3rd person, since you are talking about someone or something else, in either the singular or the plural, depending on whom or what we refer to. The pronoun and the verb will need to be in the same number. |
| After the verb, there may be a complement with further information about the person or thing we are asking about, but this is optional too. Sometimes, the interrogative pronoun and the verb alone are enough to make a question about someone or something. |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| John: So remember, to ask about someone or something, you need to use an interrogative pronoun meaning "who," "which (one)," or "what" in the nominative case, followed by an optional complement, such as a noun phrase in the nominative case or a prepositional phrase with the preposition "of." Then use the conjugated verb, and close with another complement if it's necessary. |
| John: Here is another example meaning, "Which one of them all is getting married? " referring to a female. First, we have the feminine interrogative pronoun in the nominative meaning "which one" here. |
| Chrissi: Ποια (Pia). |
| John: Second, we have a complement that consists of a prepositional phrase meaning "of them all". |
| Chrissi: απ' όλες (ap' óles). |
| John: Third, we have the verb "to marry" in the 3rd person singular meaning "is getting married". |
| Chrissi: παντρεύεται (pandrévete). |
| John: Altogether we have... |
| Chrissi: Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται[slow]Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται [normal]Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται |
| John: "Which one of them all is getting married? (female)" |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται; (Pia ap' óles pandrévete?) |
| John: How do you say - "Who's at the door?" To give you a hint, "at the door" is... |
| Chrissi: στην πόρτα (stin pórta). [slow] στην πόρτα (stin pórta). [normal] στην πόρτα (stin pórta). |
| John: "Who's at the door?" |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) [slow] Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) [normal] Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) |
| REVIEW |
| John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will tell you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Greek. Here we go. |
| John: "Which employee is arguing with the client?" |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| John: "Which one of them all is getting married? (female)" |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται; (Pia ap' óles pandrévete?) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποια απ' όλες παντρεύεται; (Pia ap' óles pandrévete?) |
| John: "Who's at the door?" |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Ποιος είναι στην πόρτα; (Pios íne stin pórta?) |
Outro |
|---|
| John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for asking about someone or something, as in... |
| Chrissi: Ποιος υπάλληλος τσακώνεται με τον πελάτη; (Pios ipálilos tsakónete me ton peláti?) |
| John: meaning "Which employee is arguing with the client?" |
| John: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on GreekPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! |
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